Google to Integrate PDF Reader in Chrome

Showing once again that Google is not about pushing its own standards onto the world, but that it is pragmatic about what technologies to include in its products, the search giant has announced that it is including a next-gen browser plugin for Adobe's PDF format in its Chrome browser. In the words of Marc Pawliger, Engineering Director at Google, "We have begun using this API to improve the experience of viewing and interacting with PDF files in Google Chrome. This mirrors our efforts to optimize the Adobe Flash Player experience in Chrome."

Chromium Blog - Millions of web users rely on PDF files every day to consume a wide variety of text and media content. To enable this, a number of plug-ins exist today which allow users to open PDF files inside their browsers. As we’ve previously mentioned, the traditional browser plug-in model, though powerful, presents challenges in compatibility, performance, and security. To overcome this, we’ve been working with the web community to help define a next generation browser plug-in API.